Adamantine
by Pronghorn.Of.Prophecy
Summary: Struggling after the events of being trapped in the VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, life is harder now more than ever for Violet Hodgins.


**Date: November 7th, 202**

**Time: ?**

"Please! You have to get up!" Her throat burned as she screamed, cursing the game's pain system for being so real.

He lay there, motionless, but the smoldering light in his eyes was enough to tell her he was still there. "I … " he mumbled, his eyelids fluttering, "I'm so … sorry."

She knew their pursuers would catch up easily at this rate, but she couldn't leave him. Not after all they've been through together in this godforsaken game. She looked down at her torn sleeves, the blood seeping through what was left of the dark green fabric, and quickly thought through her options.

_Without arms, I can't open the menu and potions don't regenerate limbs anyway, I'd have to talk to a healer. No sign of a town or safe-zone, and in our condition, there's no way we could make it. My stealth skill is quite substantial but with the number of enemies on our tail, we'll be spotted within seconds and slaughtered on sight. Plus, hiding two people is already a long-shot, even more so with our size difference and low SP levels._

"_I found their trail!"_

With panic settling in the pit of her stomach, she bit down on the sleeve of his uniform, dragging him inch by inch across the forest floor as their pursuers only gained more ground.

"You … have … to leave."

She heard him speak but only pulled his sleeve harder, keeping an eye on his health bar as the numbers dwindled down to mere triple digits. The poison would still be in effect for another hour and the paralysis was setting in for two, the counters were ticking ever so slowly.

"You have … to _live._"

She shook her head, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as she only tried to pull harder.

"_There they are!_"

She dropped his sleeve as she heard them shouting, the pounding of their boots upon the forest floor mimicking the unnatural beat of her heart.

She looked down at him, _The_Major._

He had lost an eye, but the other shown a beautiful deep green, glistening with tears.

"_Go, EverGarden." _He brushed her cheek with a bloodied hand, trying to show her a smile, "_Please._"

But she wouldn't budge, staring him down even as the angry shouts of their pursuers echoed all around them.

"I'm _not_ leaving you!" She scowled and he would've laughed if it weren't for their current situation. She never showed this much emotion.

The clang of weapons and that ever familiar sound of a sword skill being called into action drowned out the exchange and the two were engulfed in white light.

\- ** . . .** -

" … _It's … I know._"

She blinked as the bright light began to soften, trying to get her eyes to focus on the shapes and shadows above her. There was hardly any noise, but she felt as if everything was dialed up to a hundred.

The world was over-saturated and cloudy, like looking through a deep haze or as if she had just awoken from a long dream.

She tried to pull her hand over her eyes but the memory of her bloodied sleeves flashed back in her mind. It'd be no use trying.

"_I hope … years … Vi … _"

Her head felt heavy, throbbing uncontrollably as she squeezed her eyes shut. She eventually started to hear more voices, the sound growing into a frantic chatter of a small group of players but that didn't seem right to her.

Wasn't she just in the forest?

"_Wait._"

Shouldn't they be attacking?

"_Vi … _"

Where's The_Major?

" … _let!"_

_Shouldn't she be dead?_

"_Violet!_"

She tried to open her eyes again, for "Violet" was a name she hadn't heard in years.

"_Get the doctor, she's awake!_"

But the strain was too much for her, and she let her eyes fall shut.

"_You have … to live."_

When Violet opened her eyes again, her mind felt fuzzy. She blinked slowly, staring up at the ceiling in search of her health bar and status conditions, but there was nothing. Not even her username. She squinted, willing the green bar to appear, but it never came. She lifted her arm to call up a menu upon reflex, pausing mid-way when she saw her bandaged hand.

She wiggled her fingers, pulling them closer to her face as she wondered what kind of healer could produce such a miracle as remaking limbs. They may have felt a little funny, just a little out of tune with her mental commands, but perhaps it was just a system error and with enough time, it would correct itself.

Disregarding the mystery of her hands for the moment, she pointed her index and middle fingers up at the ceiling and swiped downward. She waited for the familiar bell chime to sound, searching the ceiling for the translucent purple menu screen as she repeated the action a couple more times. But the menu wouldn't appear. She sat up against her better judgement, ignoring the weakness of her arms and the dull ache in her chest, and observed her surroundings.

Her eyes narrowed at the unfamiliar scene.

The walls were stark white instead of the usual wood or stone common to the buildings of Aincrad, and a few chairs and a small table were seated neatly next to the door across from her. Large windows to her right let in what she could only guess to be the rays of early morning light through half-closed blinds and another table—this one covered in bouquets of flowers, cards, and various stuffed animals—sat close beside the bed she lay in. To her left was a wall of monitors, each documenting something completely incomprehensible to Violet.

Her mind raced.

This wasn't the Leidenschaftlich infirmary, or any room at all in the Leidenschaftlich Guild Hall for that matter, nor could Violet recall any location like this in the entirety of Sword Art Online that has been explored and conquered. She gazed back at the wall of monitors, trying to organize her thoughts through the constant pulsing in her head.

"_Go, EverGarden._"

She froze, feeling her blood run cold.

Her eyes darted around the room as those last few moments in the forest made themselves clear in her mind. Being caught on the way to the 75th boss raid by Laughing Coffin members, splitting up into the forest and losing sight of their entire battalion, The_Major paralyzed and bleeding out in her arms …

_What have they done to The_Major?_

She jumped when an alarm started to blare, a loud droning buzz of a single note, and the pulsing in her head beat harder and harder. Violet had no time to react when the door burst open and a group of people dressed in white rushed to her side, grabbing at her arms and legs as she fought back, kicking and shouting, scratching and biting, all while her mind and body screamed at her to stop.

"Please calm down!" said the man holding her left arm as she snapped at his fingers, her teeth barely grazing his wrist.

"Sweetheart, you're not in danger, we're here to help!" said a woman attempting to take hold of her legs, only for her to crumple like a rag doll when Violet's foot connected with her jaw, emitting a sickening crack.

"Sword Art Online has been completed, Miss Hodgins, everyone—"

Before the last speaker could finish, Violet screamed, her throat burning and the sound coming out garbled and broken, but she didn't dare stop. More people entered the room and she could hardly keep track of the crowd, all dressed in the same white clothing and trying to hold her down. Her eyes couldn't focus and her muscles strained, her hands were curled so tightly into fists she thought the tendons would snap and they'd fall apart.

And right before her eyes, _they did._

The room went silent when they heard her wrist pop with a metallic twang, what seemed to be a shiny black button rip through the bandages and go sailing through the air. The fabric encasing her arm quickly began to unravel, revealing that within the loosened fabric wasn't Violet's arm as she remembered—soft porcelain skin, too thin to be considered strong—but a robotic likeness with gears and springs and coils of wire carefully placed inside.

As they all stopped their struggle for only a moment, Violet flexed her fingers once … and the entire contraption fell to ruins on the floor with a solid _thunk, _leaving nothing but what was left of her natural arm exposed.

She glanced at her other arm, but before she could even think to flex her fingers again, the room erupted into further chaos. The strangers in white scoured the ground for pieces of her pseudo-arm, while others took what was left of it out of the room. The few who were once restraining her were now removing the bandages on her other arm, searching for "fractures in the adamantite" and "hypertension in the gears" while asking Violet questions about how she felt, if she was in pain.

But Violet couldn't hear them and the sound of the alarm only grew more urgent in her ears, matching the frantic pulse of her heart.

"_Miss Hodgins, everything is ok._"

But Violet's vision had already started to blur and her muscles seemed to slow as fatigue washed over her, the strangers in white multiplying in number every time she blinked. Her breath was heavy and her throat raw, she could feel her consciousness fading fast until a voice cut through the crowd.

"_Violet!_"

The strangers let go of her, creating a path for someone to pass through.

"_Violet!_"

She blinked and someone stood at the edge of the bed, reaching out to her. "Major?"

_No_. His hair was too bright, his eyes too dull. _Where was The_Major?_

"_It's me, Claudia. _"


End file.
